1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic equipment data center or co-location facility designs and methods of making and using the same in an environmentally aware manner. In particular is described a data center air handling unit and method of using the same.
2. Background of the Invention
Data centers and server co-location facilities are well-known. In such facilities, rows of electronics equipment, such as servers, typically owned by different entities, are stored. In many facilities, cabinets are used in which different electronics equipment is stored, so that only the owners of that equipment, and potentially the facility operator, have access therein. In many instances, the owner of the facilities manages the installation and removal of servers within the facility, and is responsible for maintaining utility services that are needed for the servers to operate properly. These utility services typically include providing electrical power for operation of the servers, providing telecommunications ports that allow the servers to connect to transmission grids that are typically owned by telecommunication carriers, and providing air-conditioning services that maintain temperatures in the facility at sufficiently low levels for reliable operation.
There are some well-known common aspects to the designs of these facilities. For example, it is known to have the electronic equipment placed into rows, and further to have parallel rows of equipment configured back-to back so that each row of equipment generally forces the heat from the electronic equipment toward a similar area, known as a hot aisle, as that aisle generally contains warmer air that results from the forced heat from the electronics equipment. In the front of the equipment is thus established a cold aisle.
There are different systems for attempting to collect hot air that results from the electronics equipment, cooling that hot air, and then introducing cool air to the electronics equipment. These air-conditioning systems also must co-exist with power and communications wiring for the electronics equipment. Systems in which the electronics equipment is raised above the floor are well-known, as installing the communications wiring from below the electronics equipment has been perceived to offer certain advantages. Routing wiring without raised floors is also known—though not with systematic separation of power and data as described herein.
In the air conditioning units that are used in conventional facility systems, there are both an evaporator unit and a condenser unit. The evaporator units are typically located inside a facility and the condenser units are typically disposed outside of the facility. These units, however, are not located in standardized, accessible and relatively convenient positions relative to the facility should any of the units need to be accessed and/or removed for repair or replacement. Further, these units are not themselves created using an intentionally transportable design.